Norwalk, Connecticut resident Nury Chavarria fled violence in Guatemala 24 years ago and has been living and working in Connecticut ever since. She has four children, including one with cerebral palsy. After being arrested on a minor traffic violation, she checked in with immigration officials every year and was allowed to remain in the country.
But under the Trump administration, even immigrants with no criminal record and strong ties to the U.S. have been targeted for deportation. Chavarria was ordered to fly back to Guatemala on July 20, but instead took refuge in la Iglesia de Dios Pentacostal Church in the Fair Haven section of New Haven. However, less than a week after Chavaria took sanctuary, a federal immigration court in Hartford granted her a stay of deportation, allowing her lawyers to present new information in her fight to stay in the U.S. permanently. Upon hearing the news, she immediately returned to her home in Norwalk to be with her children and return to work.
Before Chavarria was granted a temporary reprieve from deportation, about 200 supporters attended a rally on her behalf on July 23 at the church where she had taken sanctuary. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus files this report. One of the speakers at the rally was the Rev. Paul Fleck, of Hamden Plains United Methodist Church.
For more information visit Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance at Facebook.com/CTImmigrantRightsAlliance; Unidad Latina en Acción at ULANewHaven.org and on FaceBook at Facebook.com/ULANewHaven.
Related Links:
- “Mother of Four Residing in Church as Lawyers Seek to Stay Her Deportation,” CNN, July 22, 2017
- “Norwalk Mother Speaks from inside of New Haven Church Avoiding Deportation,” WTNH, July 21, 2017
- “Norwalk Mother Leaves New Haven Church After Receiving Stay Of Deportation,” Hartford Courant, Aug. 9, 2017
- “Mother Who Took Sanctuary in Church Granted Deportation Stay,” U.S. News & World Report, July 26, 2017
- “Number of Churches Offering Sanctuary in US Doubles,” Learning English, Aug. 7, 2017
- “Without Documentation Or Criminal Record, Immigrant Mother Faces Deportation,” WNPR, July 14, 2017
- “Nury Chavarria Attends Hartford Rally for Another Connecticut Resident Facing Deportation,” New Haven Register, July 27, 2017
- “No Sanctuary for the Immigration Lawyer,” New York Times, Aug. 4, 2017
- “Norwalk Mother Fighting Deportation Grateful for Supporters after Granted Stay,” WTNH, July 27, 2017
